Self-guided online intervention to build self- Ameena Ahmed,

M.A., Stacey P.
compassion among parents of children with Raj, Ph.D.
developmental disabilities: Findings from a pilot trial (Faculty Mentor)
Introduction Intervention and Results Results Continued
• Parents of children with developmental SAMPLE INTERVENTION MODULE REPRESENTATIVE PARENT FEEDBACK
disabilities (DDs) experience greater Writing about our experiences is an effective way to express emotions, and has been found
psychological distress compared to parents to enhance both mental and physical well-being. In a private notebook, journal, or word- What was helpful?
of children without DDs. Factors associated editing application on your phone/computer, please write down a parenting event from this
with distress include managing caregiving past week that you felt bad about, that you judged yourself for, or that caused you emotional • “Learning that self-compassion is always
responsibilities, navigating child service pain. (For instance, perhaps you got angry at your child for interrupting you while you were on available to me”
needs, handling child behavior problems, the phone. You lost your patience and yelled at them. Afterward, you felt guilty and • “It helps me remember that to be imperfect is
withstanding judgment, and a lack of support.  embarrassed.) to be human”
• Self-compassion (i.e., responding with • “Taking a few moments to focus on myself”
compassion to oneself during times of stress) Read over the parenting event you wrote about and think about how you would respond to a • “Remembering that no parent is perfect”
is associated with greater level of self-care as friend or family member who had a similar experience.
well as lower levels of stress, depression, and
Suggestions for improvement:
internalized stigma among parents. Now, in response to your painful parenting event, write some kind and understanding words
• While studies have shown a relationship of comfort (self-kindness) to yourself. Let yourself know that you care about yourself,
between self-compassion and well-being adopting a gentle, reassuring tone. Be easy on yourself. (For instance, “It’s okay. You lost • “Adding self-worth quotes”
among parents of children with DDs, there your patience, but it wasn’t the end of the world. I understand how frustrated you were. You’re • “Hearing other examples of how parents
are no current interventions (to the doing the best you can.”) make mistakes”
researcher’s knowledge) that specifically • ”It might help to have a male talk as well”
target self-compassion among parents. To FEASIBILITY AND SATISFACTION • “Additional resources to dive deeper into the
address this gap, the researcher developed topic”
and tested a 4-week self-guided online
intervention to increase self-compassion
among parents of children with DDs.  0 modules
6%
1 module

2 modules
4%
6%

Discussion
3 modules
10%

Methods Almost all (>93%) of parents reported that • Parents considered this brief online self-
they would recommendwith
the intervention guided to be feasible and satisfactory.
• At baseline, higher levels of self-compassion were associated
4 modules
74%
lower levelstoof
Participants: other parents
depression (r = -.53, p<.01) and stress (r = -.55, p<.01), and higher levels of well-being • Parents experienced a significant increase in
• 50 parents (48 mothers, 2 fathers) (r = .73, p<.01) self-compassion from pre- to post-
• 84% White, 82% married, 100% had at least intervention suggesting that self-
some college education, 14% receiving • From baseline to follow-up, parent self-compassion and general well-being scores compassion may be amenable to change
psychotherapy, 88% had one child with a DD significantly increased, while parent depression and stress scores significantly and could possibly be increased through
• Child DDs included Down syndrome (44%), decreased: the guidance of an online, self-guided
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (44%), intervention.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (42%), Intellectual • Overall parent outcome improved from pre to
Disability (22%), among others post intervention, suggesting that intervening
Measures: Pre-Intervention Post-Intervention t-test
M (SD) (N=50) (M) (SD) (N=41) with self compassion may result in
• The Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003); The improvements in other domains of parent
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale – 21 (Henry Self-Compassion 2.96 (.66) 3.21 (.50) t(40) = -2.95, p = .
005  functioning.
& Crawford, 2005); Warwick-Edinburgh
Mental Well-Being Scale (Tennant et al., Well-being 45.37 (9.56) 47.39 (9.33) t(40) = -2.21, p < .05  • Exploratory findings from this pilot trial
2007) t(40) = 2.15, p < .05  suggest that this self-guided online
Depression 4.66 (4.19) 3.54 (2.96)
Intervention: • There were no significant demographic differences between completers (i.e., intervention can increase self-compassion
Module 1: Education on Self-Compassion Stress 8.54 (4.12) 7.10 (3.48) t(40) = 2.56, p < .05 
completing 3 or more interventions) and non-completers (i.e., completing two or less and improve functioning (i.e., increase well-
Module 2: Self-kindness Activity interventions) bring, and decrease depression and stress).
Module 3: Common Humanity Activity This will need to be followed up with an RCT
Module 4: Mindfulness Activity design to truly evaluate if changes are due to
the intervention.